WMO Calls 2015 Global Climate ‘Historic’

Wednesday 25th Nov 2015 by theWeather Club

Image: Global annual average near-surface temperature anomalies from HadCRUT4.4.0.0 (Black line and grey area indicating the 95% uncertainty range), GISTEMP (blue) and NOAAGlobalTemp (orange). The average for 2015 is a provisional figure based on the months January to October 2015. (Source: Met Office Hadley Centre).

The World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) provisional statement of the status of global climate in 2015 was released on 25th November, with WMO Secretary-General, Michel Jarraud, stating that 2015 ‘will make history for a number of reasons’.

The report highlighted that 2015 is likely to be the warmest on record and that 2011-2015 is expected to be the warmest five-year period, with global average surface temperatures reaching the ‘symbolic and significant’ milestone of 1degC above pre-industrial levels (1880-1899)* due to a combination of anthropogenic warming and a powerful El Niño.

Michel Jarraud stated, "Levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached new highs and in the Northern hemisphere spring 2015 the three-month global average concentration of CO2 crossed the 400 parts per million barrier for the first time,” calling it ‘bad news for the planet.’

This statement will help to inform negotiations at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris, taking place at the end of November.

The report also documents a number of global highlights from 2015, including El Nino, sea level rise, heatwaves, flooding, drought and tropical cyclones, particularly over the Pacific.